It’s ‘slip of tongue’ – Tinubu’s team defends his “rotten situation” gaffe

The campaign team of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the public blunder he made yesterday in Kaduna was a slip of tongue.

Tinubu, who was one of the guests at Kaduna State Investment Summit., had hailed Governor Nasir El-Rufai for his political acumen and developmental strides.

Appealing to El-Rufai not to pursue his PhD at the end of his two terms next year, Tinubu had mistakenly said the governor turned a rotten situation to a bad one.

“I am openly begging Governor El-Rufai not to run away for additional Degrees like PhD or others. There are educated derelicts. We are not going to let you run away. Your vision, creativity and resilience in turning a ‘rotten situation to a bad one’ are necessary at this critical time and that is why we are here,” he had said.

The statement, which elicited mixed reactions in the hall, generated a storm on Twitter.

Tweeting via @iamadonisa, a social media user said, “It must really be boring sitting there to listen to this man. It takes so many seconds to put words together. Did I hear ‘turning a rotten situation to a bad one’?”

@Rich_D_Guy: “Turning a rotten situation into a bad one? 🤦🏾 God may this thing never happen to Nigeria again.”

But responding in a statement, Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media & Publicity, Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, said the issue was blown out of proportion because it’s a political season.

“At the Kaduna State Investment Summit, All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu while commending, Governor Nasir El-Rufai for his transformational leadership in the state had a slip of tongue that is common to every human being and even great leaders.”

“The APC leader inadvertently said Governor El-Rufai “turned a rotten situation” he met on ground in Kaduna into “a bad one” whereas he meant to say “to a great one to be proud of today. It was a mere Freudian slip, that is not unusual in life, even among leaders of nations. We recognise we are in political season where everything is latched on for deliberate distortion and twisted mischief. While mischief makers went so low, we noted that the audience at KadInvest 7.0 followed Asiwaju Tinubu with rapt attention and knew he only had a slip. We can only tell mischief makers to look for better and productive things to do with their time.”